A lot of first-time marketers think that the best way to grow your business is to blast your marketing messaging out in as many places as possible. While that will surely get your brand out there, the frequent messaging won’t necessarily resonate with prospective customers in a meaningful way that convinces them to buy your product. The real secret sauce is in talking directly with your customers to better understand their needs. Take the time to ask them what they’re struggling with, why it’s an issue for them and how you might be able to help. Building relationships with your customers helps you better understand how your product fulfills their needs and allows you to craft your marketing messages in a way that speaks directly to those needs. So, what are you doing to build relationships with your customers? ... View more

As a small business owner, there’s no better feeling than seeing your sales steadily climb as a direct result of your hard work. However, getting to that point isn’t the easiest journey and it takes a lot of trial and error to get your sales and marketing tactics just right.    When talking with our small-business customers, we’ve found time and time again that being authentic when selling yields the best results.   What strategies do you use to build trust with your customers? ... View more

For an uncommon business building a customer base takes time, patience and a little bit of marketing. The House Watchers is a house-sitting business which may not be very common but that hasn’t stopped business from growing steadily since getting started. Owner Frank Fantasia, offered some advice during an interview  with Dave Charest.    Frank’s Advice: Doing is the best method of learning, according to Frank. He’s used many of Constant Contact’s features firsthand, including text marketing, emails, landing pages, and surveys.   What have you found helpful when learning about the tools in your Constant Contact account? ... View more

A company’s values can act as a guiding hand for an organization. Take some time to identify the things that are most important to you when it comes to running your business. By being clear on where you stand and what you're trying to create, you can better make decisions in terms of hiring and choosing who you take on as clients – decisions that can translate directly to success for your business.   What are your company’s core values? ... View more

Segmenting your audience into like-minded groups is key to making your marketing stand-out. Keynote speaker and leader, Scharrell Jackson, harped on the importance of breaking up your business’ audience into separate segments and developing personalized messaging for these different groups.   There are a few different ways to create custom segments using Constant Contact. How do you currently segment your audience to maximize the effectiveness of your marketing? ... View more

This week, B2B marketing guru Dave Gerhart walked through how to build a marketing plan from just a story. One of the biggest takeaways he drove home was to focus on who you’re trying to serve. While it’s tempting to frame your marketing efforts for everyone, it’s much more impactful to define one target audience and focus on them. By focusing your efforts, it becomes easier to develop a marketing strategy that will resonate with your audience and help you achieve your business goals. What are your 2023 marketing goals? ... View more

Pam Roussell of Purrrfectly Holistic talked with us recently about how she grew her business and how she markets to her customers. “You have to keep getting in front of people all the time. You can't just send one email a month and expect them to remember you ” Pam says. How often do you send emails to your customers to stay top-of-mind? ... View more

We recently heard from Mary Ginder of Gindo’s Spice of Life touched on why community matters so much to her team and their business.    “[Community] is a huge part of our business. Our mission statement is we make fresh pepper hot sauces designed to inspire creativity in the kitchen and support local farms and businesses. It’s everything for us”, Mary said.    Why is community important to your business? How are you building connections in your community? ... View more

After starting 5 businesses and selling 3 of them, with more businesses on the way, serial entrepreneur Ramon Ray has learned several valuable lessons on his journey as a small business owner.   In a recent conversation between Dave Charest and Ramon Ray,  Ramon mentioned that while it’s important to generate recurring revenue for your business and establish a great team, the real magic happens when you can identify your ideal customer and leverage your tools and your team to curate a customer experience that keeps them coming back.    What is an important lesson you’ve learned since starting your business? ... View more

Tamika Catchings, owner of Tea’s Me Cafe Indy, shed some light on what inspired her decision to start her business. “I didn't get into it to get rich. I got into it because of the community and … to bring people together and build this”, she said.   What inspired you to start your small business? ... View more